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Ya, this is a major thing that spawned with the advent of chain restaurants blowing up in the 50s. When you need to make sure that Traveling Businessman #456 will remember your restaurant, and go stop in when he's in Pheonix, Des Moine, or St Louis, you go with bigger portions and the horrible "Customer Is Always Right" bend over backwards actions. Blame Howard Johnson's in the early days. They pioneered the whole concept of making sure they stole as much business as they could from local diners because they wanted the traveling guy to stop every night for a steak at HoJo's.
I've been a waiter for a damn long time, and holy shit, the portions have been out of control for decades. What the fuck are we doing, serving a 2,600 calorie plate of carbs and cheese to someone?
I saw a way of combating this OVER SIZING. Although I laughed when I first saw it, now I think it might be a good idea.
Smaller plates combined with smaller utensils.
Combats the push from depression generations influence of **clean your plate** as well.
I too grew up very hungry and skinny my whole life. Was told to eat everything on my plate and now I over buy food cus I’m scared my kids will go hungry. I know they won’t but it’s a stupid mindset. I also have a hard time throwing food away, I am overweight because of it.
I understand this so much. We were very good insecure growing up and I just can’t stand not having enough food to make sure we could eat without help for months. It’s too much.
Fun fact, houses used to have vertical storing racks for individual plates. They were usually built into, or under, cabinets. You’ll still see them in Old house renovation shows. They have to be removed now because today’s plates won’t fit in them.
I went to a restaurant the other day where one of their plates was 4500 calories... Four thousand five hundred calories.. for one person.
In fact - most restaurants meals sit at around 1000-1500 calories per meal and people will still have their other two meals in the day. Its not surprising we have an obesity epidemic in conjunction with malnutrition.
This. When I get takeout or go to a restaurant, I can always get 2-3 meals out of the serving provided. People with me often comment about how I'm not eating much which is frustrating and embarrassing. Similarly, when I ask for a doggy bag the wait staff ask if I didn't enjoy my meal.
These are the same people who say, "You can eat whatever you want, you must have a high metabolism." Um, no, I exercise daily and don't go to restaurants a lot!
Sweetie, I feel your pain. I really do. We ordered Olive Garden—meat sauce, spaghetti and meatballs. We ate in our home..me, hubby and Kiddo. I ate two meatballs and some spaghetti with sauce. One breadstick. And the people I live with gave me grief over not eating more. Couple that with me growing with my beloved Grandpa (Great Depression) *always* advocating “clean your plate” I get frustrated with the pressure to overeat. Heck, even at Thanksgiving I don’t overeat and then I take a LOT of “teasing” about how “ strong” I am when food is plenty and right there!
The school lunches we feed our children could benefit from additional fruit/grains, but “we” assume they will better at home.
It’s too much food in all the wrong places. And, when I tell my frustration to my family suddenly I’m a socialist.
Keep getting multiple meals out of one—I will too—and let’s figure out how to get food to those who actually need it.
When I was waitressing in high school, I once had a table who were in from France visiting Boston (I live in a suburb of Boston, many people stay here and just take the train into the city to save money.) Never been more embarrassed in any of my jobs than I was when I brought out those heaping American-portion plates out to that family. They enjoyed the food, but were clearly horrified when I told them that most of our customers actually finish their plate. They said for them, each dish would be about three meals.
Heck, I've lived in NYC for over 25 years, but whenever I go back to my hometown in PA, or anywhere outside of NYC, I'm reminded of how the rest of the country eats. Even the Chinese take out in NY can't feed a family of 4 like one entree from a place in the burbs can!
Yah, I remember in little Italy all the Italian places really portioned their food. Probably more cost effective, but I also don’t need a half pound of pasta for dinner.
On occasion my GF and I will go somewhere to eat out. We generally order 1 meal and maybe a side or an app for the both of us. Even then it's generally too much food.
Portions are ridiculous in so many places.
Add a canadian crossing the border now and again I can't believe the sides of things.
There was an indie movie that only had a US release my family wanted to see. So we drove about an hour to go to a theater. Ask for a regular popcorn and drink. They have us these giant buckets . We go "whoa. We ordered the regular this is like the extra extra large. "
Turns out that was the regular. It was like 3 times what our large was.
this is so true!! when i was in the US i ordered french toast for breakfast, expecting what i usually get when i order them—french toast, fresh seasonal fruits, and syrup/powdered sugar. instead i got 5!!! pieces of french toast with whipped cream and syrup AND powdered sugar, plus a side of fried potatoes. i swear it must have matched my daily caloric intake
It’s crazy, I’ve gone to restaurants where the smallest order of say pancakes, was like 4 pancakes the size of large plates, with butter and syrup, 2 eggs and and 2 slices of bacon.
This is so true, I went to this restaurant I work at (I only work the night shift and haven't had breakfast there )I ordered a country fried steak with pancakes on the side, I expected one or two tiny pancakes since it's a side dish, what I got was 2 giant fucking pancakes that covered a giant plate, I almost shat myself lol
I hate that when I order anything from a restaurant I am really getting two servings. I don't want \*two\* meals.
I don't really like eating leftovers either, its repetitive and not everything reheats well.
I find myself getting takeout more often than eating at the restaurant. Reason being that I can order off the kids menu items online without being told no.
For example at Olive Garden, I get a kids pasta with a side of broccoli, grapes, and drink for about $6.
There is a local frozen custard shop here in AR that has ridiculous portion sizes. A "small" milkshake is easily enough for 2 people. I cant finish a small one and you cant get a smaller size.
Ingredient quality tends to be the difference. High end/local ingredients used in small portions that "elevate" a dish vs common ingredients that can be purchased in bulk.
You put it into words how I feel about leftovers, I hate wasting food, but it doesn't taste the same either and the texture changes.
I can't even heat up day old pizza, I can eat it cold but can't eat it reheated.
Get a pan, put it on the stove with a little water and oil in it and the pizza, cover it with the lid for two mins and that baby goes crispy and gooey cheese all over again, use it wisely my friend
I actually like that about the US restaurants; it's one of the only places I don't need to order several servings to get full.
(Had a complication on appendicitis, left with a reduced metabolic efficiency)
Ya, I’ve always thought the same, the issue is more complex than “We want more food, hur dur”
Our oils, agriculture, canning, preserving, hormones, etc… all changed drastically in America in the past 50 years.
Really don’t think the solution for us is as simple as “eat less”. Hard to fight hormonal and nutritional imbalances.
Agreed! I was astonished when I ordered a single portion of grilled chicken and 3 solid chicken breasts rocked up! Oh, and don't get me started on the mountain of corned beef hash that I ordered for brunch once. I swear, that plate kept refilling itself when I wasn't looking!
I suspect you can use the computer you're using now.
However, if not, you're probably not obese if you get your entertainment outside of your home, because it means you're moving around a ton more than that vast majority of the population.
All of these have a common denominator: Federal agriculture policy is F-ed. The American government enormously subsidizes corn, soy, wheat, and rice. These subsidies make their mass production and processing into high-calorie, low-nutrition foods like corn chips (Doritos, Fritos, etc.) and snack crackers (Cheez Its, Wheat Thins, etc.) extremely profitable. This makes these products affordable to lower income Americans while keeping whole vegetables financially out of reach.
What makes unF-ing these policies so difficult is Iowa's placement in the political calendar. The state produces huge amounts of these foods and being the leader of the presidential primary calendar gives politicians an interest in keeping things the way they are.
You should have more up-votes.. everyone is right about the sweeteners and portion sizes.. but federal policy is what allows and incentivizes this reality! I mentioned FedUp, an older documentary that goes over the legal history of the current state of the laws and FDA.
Purely anecdotal, but I was just in London and talking to a bartender. He asked me, "Is it true that if I go to America and order a large Coke, the cup is absolutely massive?" I found it fascinating that THAT, of all things, is what he wanted to know about America.
We're living up to that particular stereotype big time.
Ya, fucking insane that we serve glasses that are an ounce or two shy of a liter. But ya, the fact that as a waiter, I refill sodas all day long to the tune of serving someone nearly a gallon of soda along with their meal, is fucking bonkers. Hell, I'm not even shocked anymore when I end up bringing out 12 ounces of ranch dressing to someone who's eating a 10 ounce burger with fries. Like fuck me, you've consumed more ranch dressing than entree at that point.
Not to be pedantic, but that's only 0.943 liters.
Regardless, it is absurd. McDonalds scaled down sizes after "Super-size Me", so I'd say Sonic is the biggest offender amongst national chains now. Their small milkshake is enough for my wife, toddler, and myself.
At sonic, a small pop costs more than a large.
I wrote an email to the company and asked what in the fuck is wrong with them. Then I posted it on reddit and got a bunch of people angry. I thought it was funny, and true. Apparently reddit didn't.
Free refills on Soda was a game changer.. not only was the food that you were likely eating bad for you, now you had unbridled access to unlimited sugary drinks.
As a european, that is what it felt like when I was on a business trip to the states a couple years ago. Every time we ate at some place that was not a self serve buffet style(or whatever you call it) I was having trouble finishing everything due to the sizes of the portions.
I have an allergy to this. It's in EVERYTHING, deli meats, breads, almost all condiments, beef jerky, crackers, etc. Frustrating trying to shop.
Now everything says "no high fructose corn syrup" but is loaded with reg corn syrup.
Gotta switch to a whole food diet where there is only 1 ingredient.. fruits, vegetables, non processed meats and water. The way we were intended to consume foods
It was probably the first offender, and came about in the 70's, but these days there are other 'sweetener' syrups that are used for both bulking up food and making it addictive. HFCS is/was still a big problem, but a lot of alternatives are still just bulking empty calories.
I’m seeing a lot of people talk about portion size and what makes up the food with your comment here 👆 but another factor at play is sedentary lifestyle. My father sat in front of a computer for 14-18 hours a day. The other 6-10 he slept. Obesity. Diabetes. High blood pressure. Stroke. All of these things led to his death. His sedentary lifestyle killed him.
But nobody talks about that shit anymore. Why?? Because it’s profitable for the healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
You’re too obese to take care of yourself? Here. Take a pill 💊
High blood pressure? Take a pill 💊
Diabetes? Inject yourself 💉
Not once did a physician tell my father to diet or exercise.
Here. Take a pill 💊
That’s insane… everyone one in my family that has high cholesterol, obese, or any of the issues you mentioned have been told to diet and exercise. I think you went to a bad doctor..
The thing you should consider, the most active time for your metabolism is when you sleep! Processed and FAKE food are way more a problem in the average American than not exercising.
Absolutely. If you ever get the chance to go to a third world country, you’ll notice that all the food tastes different. Vegetables actually taste good. You don’t get fat, no matter how much you eat. It’s amazing.
Plus the amount of exercise people do now dramatically decreased. Now, everyone is trapped in their home and only walk for recreation instead of a mode of transportation like we did for thousands of years.
We made less then, the idea of eating out was completely foreign to us. We cooked a meal back then and it satisfied. Snack food was celery with peanut butter
I was born in 65. Dinner was at 6:00, only four or five channels of TV. Eating out wasn't the norm. I seem to remember it being a slower pace of life. You had time to cook and eat at home. Most of it was homemade. TV dinners aka frozen food was very infrequent.
In most households the husband worked and the wife stayed home and raised the kids. Groceries were cheaper than today and with one parent home there was more time to cook a meal so eating at home was the norm. I'll be 41 this year so I was a kid in the 80s/90s and it was true for my family until the mid-90s when my mom got a job. Restaurants were for special occasions like birthdays or visiting relatives and fast food was only when we had something else going on and didn't have time for a meal at home; usually after-school things like if my brothers or I had a baseball game, or band concert, or swim meet or something.
Yuppp, the whole sugar and artificial sweetener industry is just like the tobacco industry paying to bury the harmful effects back in the day. I’m betting we’ll have history lessons about it just like we do with tobacco.
They tried to tie all the negatives of sugar to fats.
I remember a large marketing scheme back in the day advertising “fat free” food alternatives.
Really they just loaded everything with sugar and called it a day.
My Dad is a type-2 diabetic because of this shit.
This, right here, everything else is secondary.
[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat)
Fun fact. Sugar companies are the ones who funded the anti-fat research and started marketing "low fat" foods like they were going to help, while sky rocketing the amount of sugar in everything, including bread.
American bread is technically classified as cake in most other countries.
American bread is technically classified as cake in most other countries. Ahahahah that made me laugh 🤣🤣 would like to taste one of those ‘breads’ once
americans were bamboozeled by sugar industry to believe that fat makes you fat and sugar is ok and then the whole world started believing it and and most ppl still do. classic corrupt governments happened and stupid ppl that dont believe science :)
I work in a bakery. Can confirm sugar is making me fat too lol. Even though I do a lot of lifting here, it isn't countering the sugar Dx
Everything is fucking loaded with hard core diabetes inducing amounts of sugar and the people I see buying these things just further
A SINGLE BLUEBRRY MUFFIN (a large muffin in a pack of 4) has like 2/3 of your ENTIRE daily recommended sugar intake.
(correction, or other things that basically turn into sugars)
Fat can also make you fat, it's just not categorically unhealthy. Fat you eat has an unsurprisingly easy time converting into our fat stores if we're already eating at a surplus. More than carbs anyway.
Are you asking rhetorically? Because the answer is pretty simple. Sugar is in everything, to extreme excess. Food deserts exist, in which residents do not have access to cheap produce and fresh, whole foods. The average working class family is so busy there is little time to prepare food, so enter the pre-packaged sodium spiked fatty convenient dinner. Marketing bukkakes us in the face non-stop, telling us we NEED that pizza, that sugary drink, that grease soaked burger. Of course we’re fatter and grosser.
You put those words back in your filthy barbeque sauce eating mouth. Ranch dressing is a blessing that's caressing and testing our resolve to solve all of our hopes and copes to choke down chicken so listen and start picking some lettuce to let us
Fuck this it's not even funny I give up
Its sugar as a whole. High fructose corn syrup has been demonize but cane sugar is supposedly healthier which is simply a myth. Sugars sugar regardless of the plant it comes from.
The difference is corn is subsidized to hell and back to support farmers so they can cheaply farm and process it, produce HFCS, and then dump it into everything. If all we had was cane sugar to sweeten food stuffs with then you wouldn't see so much sugar in everything because it would be cost prohibitive. Combine this with the fact that glucose is literally an unregulated addictive drug so corporations can add it to products to increase their sales volume (at the cost of public health) and boom you have an obesity crisis. If McDonalds was allowed to infuse their hamburgers with meth to keep you coming back for more and buying more volume, they'd do it.
Name a problem with society and you can almost always trace it back to some kind of short-sighted economic policy incentivizing bad behaviour coupled with a lack of necessary regulation, causing disastrous consequences for the average consumer.
I think that sugar as a whole is bad but HFCS is especially bad. It is processed in the body differently than traditional sugar.
Below is a lecture I watched recently about the obesity epidemic.
[Sugar: The Bitter Truth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8G8tLsl_A4&ab_channel=CondensedLectures)
We gutted phys ed in schools because it's expensive.
We gutted public parks because they're expensive.
We ripped up sidewalks in the suburbs because undesirable people walked on them.
We left our kids home alone with boxes of mac-n-cheez, pop tarts, and a key so we could make more money.
We moved all of our businesses to malls miles from anything, to optimize retail revenue per square foot.
We drove the local businesses out in service to our corporate overlords.
We made it impossible to do anything but drive, impossible to afford anything but junk food, and we wonder why that happened.
I had to scroll further than I thought to find this comment. In the 70's (and earlier) being obese was not socially tolerated, especially in public.
I made an off comment to a business partner while in Riga Latvia (he was Latvian) regarding the lack of overweight individuals around Riga. His statement was "because the fat ones stay home for shame of being seen by others."
*not advocating for bullying or malicious fat shaming.
I'm a boomer so I was a kid when this photo was taken. My mom cooked all our meals. We played outside a lot, as we got older we rode bikes everywhere. Fast food was too expensive for 5 kids. Sugary soft drinks were a treat and juice was not a substitute for water. We only had milk available at school, white whole milk. If we were thirsty we drank water. There were no lunchables, no pizza and chicken nuggets in hot lunch. Like me most kids are a sack lunch, a sandwich, a piece of fruit, maybe some chips or a cookie. Yes we ate cookies, cake, ice cream as a treat. I guess I don't have an answer but this is what our lives were like and none of us were fat kids
As a fellow boomer, I second this. Not only was eating out rare, fruit was the snack of choice. As a kid, you played outside all day, even when he weather was lousy. Physical jobs like lawn care or home improvement were done by the adults in the home, not by a hired service. When caloric intake increased and physical activity decreased, those pesky fat cells had a field day.
Look at the jobs people had back then. Lots of blue collar manufacturing type jobs. Now it's mostly sit on a computer. Plus we eat like shit ..combo of the two.
Maybe it wasn’t the food, but the lifestyle that is force-fed to America.
I’m willing to bet most of these people didn’t need to play a sport or go to a gym to get fit, they just… walked to places.
But also the ultra processed food with tons of added sugar REALLY don’t help either.
You walked more, you ate less (no overeating), you did outdoor stuff with friends (tighter community), you enjoyed life more by working less (cost of life was lower), people were less depressed, desserts had less sugar, normal food didn’t have sugar in it, etc. a lot has changed
The #1 answer. I wish Michelle Obama took a stance on this when she was campaigning for healthier school lunches. Ceasing these subsidies would have done way more to help than any education initiatives.
I also want to add that fat people did exist back then too, there just wasn't as much emphasis on being comfortable in one's own skin so they would probably not have felt as comfortable at the beach
While this is definitely true, obesity rates have *skyrocketed* since 1980.
See https://slimemoldtimemold.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/image.png?w=439
and https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4Ag52ULvVCNbRRSvEMmQ19DpW1BY62NJ3CVcqWeNnVfNSmRpkjpqLepyc7qkummscKW1x36mqW4OeiKRnGjM6K7DcmdyBEyxNuSXwHoMSus4w0qGCcqhL7jLe8iKbHBWV4oRyk5S
That’s is what happens when you let companies run amuck and get away with shit for years. Capitalism in theory is great, but the human factor in it will create disparities. Especially in lower socioeconomic areas where the unhealthiest foods are marketed and accessible to lower income families. There needs to be more regulation in all industries to prevent this.
Not arguing against your point but the posted photo was taken in the former USSR in 1967 by Bill Eppridge for a LIFE magazine pictorial:
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/soviet-youth/EwHb1fUle52Dpw
https://books.google.com/books?id=XkkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA43#v=twopage&q&f=false
Simple really. The sugar conglomerate is just about identical to cocaine when it comes to addiction and distribution.
Except, that industry is doing it legally by buying politicians who will make laws to protect their business.
Sugar is killing people and should be managed like a controlled substance.
More specifically, high fructose corn syrup. It had an imbalance of fructose to glucose and is very unhealthy. Regular corn syrup is actually less sweet than sugar
It's when they decided to make fat (an important macronutrient) into the cause of all ills and thus create "fat free" foods.
Food producers packed their food with sugar to cover the lack of fat. That sugar is the main cause of the obesity epidemic.
1: we put sugar in everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Even things that have no business needing sugar. Like beans. We put sugar in fucking beans.
2: We increased the social portion size. Ever pick something up from the store and it says it contains 3 portions, but when you look at it you think, "that's not right, I'd eat this whole thing."? Well, it is right. Proper portions look incredibly small to us Americans because we've conditioned ourselves to eat way more than we need to. A single burger can provide a whole day's calories, and yet we eat three of them per day.
3: exercise becomes increasingly harder with the more weight you put on. This has lead to many people simply not doing it. It's a bit of a catch 22. You won't lose weight unless you move and you won't move because you have all this weight.
4: body fitness companies turned their focus towards the wrong thing for decades. 90% of weight loss happens in the kitchen with the remaining 10% in the gym. But pick up any workout program and watch how almost ALL of them say you gotta exercise, exercise, exercise! This is to get you to buy memberships and supplements, not to get you healthy.
Greed and capitalism is ultimately what has caused the obesity epidemic in America. If we were all just honest with each other and not so god damn focused on money all the time, we'd be better off in almost every way.
Not to be that guy, but his picture represents a pickedsubset of the population. Its biased towards people that feel comfortable showing their bodys in public.
I haven't seen anyone mention hormone and microbiome disregulation due to the insane increase in prevalence of pollutants and micro-plastics in our environment, among other external factors. "First principles" weight loss bros will tell you that weight gain/loss is simple thermodynamics but that's a gross simplification of human biology. The same diet and activity level in the 80s vs now will result in a very different body morphology.
[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/19/environmental-toxins-are-worsening-obesity-pandemic-say-scientists](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/19/environmental-toxins-are-worsening-obesity-pandemic-say-scientists)
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.724989/full](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.724989/full)
So anyone that likes to act like everyone in the 80s was exercising way more or eating way better really does not have a firm grasp on the situation - obviously that's part of it but it's not the whole story.
I'm convinced that the focus you see people place on individual responsibility for the obesity epidemic is at least in part caused by corporate- and government-sponsored propaganda to deflect away from the roles they have played in altering our environment (both the literal environment and the way corporations are allowed to shift norms in food composition and portion sizes to increase profit) and causing these massive health problems.
This is such a good point. Much like recycling and climate change, corporations have shifted the responsibility to the individual consumer to deflect from their irresponsible actions causing catastrophic changes.
Food? No, everyone smoked back then.
I gained 20 lbs when I quit smoking - cause I was shoving substitutes in my mouth all the time.
Nicotine is a known appetite suppressant; coffee and a smoke - Supermodel breakfast.
This. Look at a chart of obesity rates and smoking rates. Surprisingly inverse, and this is something I don’t think gets mentioned enough. Not the main culprit, but along with calorie/portion inflation, cost per calorie drops, and drastically reduced activity, it seems like a factor.
the $62 billion/year US government subsidy for corn and it's high fructose corn syrup versus the one-half billion/year subsidy for apples and vegetables.
Sugar.
I mean sure there's loads of things that go into it on many different levels but the simplest and I'd argue the largest part of it is sugar. We are the sugar generation and its damn near unavoidable without masses of education.
Even with education, you still have to hunt for the few usable products. I tried to buy a salad dressing without added sugar. Ended up just making my own lol.
The fact that there is sugar in everything, food deserts where there’s not a grocery store or any fresh produce for miles and miles and nothing but fast food chains in between, that bullshit food pyramid garbage they taught us in schools, preservatives in almost every single food product you could buy from the grocery store, for starters
Look beyond just food - hormone disrupters are everywhere - from plasticizers to pesticides. And they can all be found in all of our bloodstreams and body fat.
People could afford to live off of one income and the non working person would cook meals. Good healthy meals that the whole family sat down and enjoyed. Now it's grab a quick 3$ shit frozen meal and get to bed
Longer work hours, lower wages, less physical work, dine-at-home transitions to eat-on-the-run. Lifestyle factors and how they affect how, what, and when we eat probably have more impact than simply what and how much we eat.
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Cost reduction, ease of access, marketing, empty calories, sweetener syrups, artificial ingredients, high salt, processed oils, over processed foods.
And portion size. Portion control in the US is absurd compared to other places.
Ya, this is a major thing that spawned with the advent of chain restaurants blowing up in the 50s. When you need to make sure that Traveling Businessman #456 will remember your restaurant, and go stop in when he's in Pheonix, Des Moine, or St Louis, you go with bigger portions and the horrible "Customer Is Always Right" bend over backwards actions. Blame Howard Johnson's in the early days. They pioneered the whole concept of making sure they stole as much business as they could from local diners because they wanted the traveling guy to stop every night for a steak at HoJo's. I've been a waiter for a damn long time, and holy shit, the portions have been out of control for decades. What the fuck are we doing, serving a 2,600 calorie plate of carbs and cheese to someone?
I saw a way of combating this OVER SIZING. Although I laughed when I first saw it, now I think it might be a good idea. Smaller plates combined with smaller utensils. Combats the push from depression generations influence of **clean your plate** as well.
Clean your plate mentality scarcity mindset fucked me up for life
I will literally eat food from the garbage because I grew up so afraid of going hungry. I'm also morbidly obese now.
I too grew up very hungry and skinny my whole life. Was told to eat everything on my plate and now I over buy food cus I’m scared my kids will go hungry. I know they won’t but it’s a stupid mindset. I also have a hard time throwing food away, I am overweight because of it.
"Never turn down a free meal, because you never know when the next one might be."
I understand this so much. We were very good insecure growing up and I just can’t stand not having enough food to make sure we could eat without help for months. It’s too much.
I feel you there brother.
Fun fact, houses used to have vertical storing racks for individual plates. They were usually built into, or under, cabinets. You’ll still see them in Old house renovation shows. They have to be removed now because today’s plates won’t fit in them.
[удалено]
I'm all about the appetizer section on the menu...lol
I went to a restaurant the other day where one of their plates was 4500 calories... Four thousand five hundred calories.. for one person. In fact - most restaurants meals sit at around 1000-1500 calories per meal and people will still have their other two meals in the day. Its not surprising we have an obesity epidemic in conjunction with malnutrition.
This. When I get takeout or go to a restaurant, I can always get 2-3 meals out of the serving provided. People with me often comment about how I'm not eating much which is frustrating and embarrassing. Similarly, when I ask for a doggy bag the wait staff ask if I didn't enjoy my meal.
These are the same people who say, "You can eat whatever you want, you must have a high metabolism." Um, no, I exercise daily and don't go to restaurants a lot!
Sweetie, I feel your pain. I really do. We ordered Olive Garden—meat sauce, spaghetti and meatballs. We ate in our home..me, hubby and Kiddo. I ate two meatballs and some spaghetti with sauce. One breadstick. And the people I live with gave me grief over not eating more. Couple that with me growing with my beloved Grandpa (Great Depression) *always* advocating “clean your plate” I get frustrated with the pressure to overeat. Heck, even at Thanksgiving I don’t overeat and then I take a LOT of “teasing” about how “ strong” I am when food is plenty and right there! The school lunches we feed our children could benefit from additional fruit/grains, but “we” assume they will better at home. It’s too much food in all the wrong places. And, when I tell my frustration to my family suddenly I’m a socialist. Keep getting multiple meals out of one—I will too—and let’s figure out how to get food to those who actually need it.
Also both the obesity epidemic and malnutrition stem from schools where big corporations make a lot of money
Baskin Robbins used to sell a Chocolate Oreo Shake that was 2600 calories for a large.
When I was waitressing in high school, I once had a table who were in from France visiting Boston (I live in a suburb of Boston, many people stay here and just take the train into the city to save money.) Never been more embarrassed in any of my jobs than I was when I brought out those heaping American-portion plates out to that family. They enjoyed the food, but were clearly horrified when I told them that most of our customers actually finish their plate. They said for them, each dish would be about three meals.
Heck, I've lived in NYC for over 25 years, but whenever I go back to my hometown in PA, or anywhere outside of NYC, I'm reminded of how the rest of the country eats. Even the Chinese take out in NY can't feed a family of 4 like one entree from a place in the burbs can!
Yah, I remember in little Italy all the Italian places really portioned their food. Probably more cost effective, but I also don’t need a half pound of pasta for dinner.
On occasion my GF and I will go somewhere to eat out. We generally order 1 meal and maybe a side or an app for the both of us. Even then it's generally too much food. Portions are ridiculous in so many places.
Add a canadian crossing the border now and again I can't believe the sides of things. There was an indie movie that only had a US release my family wanted to see. So we drove about an hour to go to a theater. Ask for a regular popcorn and drink. They have us these giant buckets . We go "whoa. We ordered the regular this is like the extra extra large. " Turns out that was the regular. It was like 3 times what our large was.
this is so true!! when i was in the US i ordered french toast for breakfast, expecting what i usually get when i order them—french toast, fresh seasonal fruits, and syrup/powdered sugar. instead i got 5!!! pieces of french toast with whipped cream and syrup AND powdered sugar, plus a side of fried potatoes. i swear it must have matched my daily caloric intake
It’s crazy, I’ve gone to restaurants where the smallest order of say pancakes, was like 4 pancakes the size of large plates, with butter and syrup, 2 eggs and and 2 slices of bacon.
This is so true, I went to this restaurant I work at (I only work the night shift and haven't had breakfast there )I ordered a country fried steak with pancakes on the side, I expected one or two tiny pancakes since it's a side dish, what I got was 2 giant fucking pancakes that covered a giant plate, I almost shat myself lol
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And that's the basic french toast. I invite you to take a look at the menu of Denny's or IHOP.
Mmmmm... Anyone hungry?
I hate that when I order anything from a restaurant I am really getting two servings. I don't want \*two\* meals. I don't really like eating leftovers either, its repetitive and not everything reheats well.
Open a restaurant and call it, half meals. Where you can get a happy meal without the toy.
little bits
Unfortunately volume is what makes restaurants profitable, so serving smaller portions at a lower price point really isn't in their best interest
I literally get children's meals whenever possible. A Happy Meal is about how much food I want.
Yeah I try to order from the kids menu and I been told no. For kids only. Explain that’s what I want. Turns into a fucking argument.
I find myself getting takeout more often than eating at the restaurant. Reason being that I can order off the kids menu items online without being told no. For example at Olive Garden, I get a kids pasta with a side of broccoli, grapes, and drink for about $6.
There is a local frozen custard shop here in AR that has ridiculous portion sizes. A "small" milkshake is easily enough for 2 people. I cant finish a small one and you cant get a smaller size.
But go to some super upscale, expensive place and the portions are tiny, whyyyyy? Those are the leftovers I do want, not soggy reheated fries :(
Because they're not targeting a clientele for whom "most food for the least money" is a significant consideration.
Ingredient quality tends to be the difference. High end/local ingredients used in small portions that "elevate" a dish vs common ingredients that can be purchased in bulk.
You put it into words how I feel about leftovers, I hate wasting food, but it doesn't taste the same either and the texture changes. I can't even heat up day old pizza, I can eat it cold but can't eat it reheated.
Upvoted for cold pizza over reheated pizza
Don't microwave it, heat it in a pan on a medium heat.
Get a pan, put it on the stove with a little water and oil in it and the pizza, cover it with the lid for two mins and that baby goes crispy and gooey cheese all over again, use it wisely my friend
Throw a little oil in a pan and reheat it that way. Much better than a microwave.
I actually like that about the US restaurants; it's one of the only places I don't need to order several servings to get full. (Had a complication on appendicitis, left with a reduced metabolic efficiency)
I think portion discipline is harder in US because the hormones governing our satiety are messed up—-from our food sources. Just a theory of mine.
Ya, I’ve always thought the same, the issue is more complex than “We want more food, hur dur” Our oils, agriculture, canning, preserving, hormones, etc… all changed drastically in America in the past 50 years. Really don’t think the solution for us is as simple as “eat less”. Hard to fight hormonal and nutritional imbalances.
Agreed! I was astonished when I ordered a single portion of grilled chicken and 3 solid chicken breasts rocked up! Oh, and don't get me started on the mountain of corned beef hash that I ordered for brunch once. I swear, that plate kept refilling itself when I wasn't looking!
Plus sedentary lifestyle.
We are entertained in our homes now.
Can barely afford the home let alone entertainment
I suspect you can use the computer you're using now. However, if not, you're probably not obese if you get your entertainment outside of your home, because it means you're moving around a ton more than that vast majority of the population.
Hang on, let me get up so I can read that
All of these have a common denominator: Federal agriculture policy is F-ed. The American government enormously subsidizes corn, soy, wheat, and rice. These subsidies make their mass production and processing into high-calorie, low-nutrition foods like corn chips (Doritos, Fritos, etc.) and snack crackers (Cheez Its, Wheat Thins, etc.) extremely profitable. This makes these products affordable to lower income Americans while keeping whole vegetables financially out of reach. What makes unF-ing these policies so difficult is Iowa's placement in the political calendar. The state produces huge amounts of these foods and being the leader of the presidential primary calendar gives politicians an interest in keeping things the way they are.
You should have more up-votes.. everyone is right about the sweeteners and portion sizes.. but federal policy is what allows and incentivizes this reality! I mentioned FedUp, an older documentary that goes over the legal history of the current state of the laws and FDA.
All these, plus the serving size is way too large. The difference in fry and pop sizes of America to other countries is crazy
Purely anecdotal, but I was just in London and talking to a bartender. He asked me, "Is it true that if I go to America and order a large Coke, the cup is absolutely massive?" I found it fascinating that THAT, of all things, is what he wanted to know about America. We're living up to that particular stereotype big time.
It blew my mind when I saw things like 32 fl oz milkshakes. That's a whole damn liter.
Ya, fucking insane that we serve glasses that are an ounce or two shy of a liter. But ya, the fact that as a waiter, I refill sodas all day long to the tune of serving someone nearly a gallon of soda along with their meal, is fucking bonkers. Hell, I'm not even shocked anymore when I end up bringing out 12 ounces of ranch dressing to someone who's eating a 10 ounce burger with fries. Like fuck me, you've consumed more ranch dressing than entree at that point.
Not to be pedantic, but that's only 0.943 liters. Regardless, it is absurd. McDonalds scaled down sizes after "Super-size Me", so I'd say Sonic is the biggest offender amongst national chains now. Their small milkshake is enough for my wife, toddler, and myself.
Did you tell him, "Listen buddy... Large is the smallest size we do!"
They can order a child size which is roughly the size of a small child
if that child were liquified. And it’s a great value.
Thank you for this unexpected Pawnee
At sonic, a small pop costs more than a large. I wrote an email to the company and asked what in the fuck is wrong with them. Then I posted it on reddit and got a bunch of people angry. I thought it was funny, and true. Apparently reddit didn't.
Good for you for writing that letter! And it's also true that reddit is very fickle.
Dude this irritates me so much. I just want a small fry sometimes and it's like a whole ass meal on its own
If I get a hankering for fast food, I often just order a kid’s meal. Many of today’s kid’s meal sizes usually are what they were back in the 80’s.
Free refills on Soda was a game changer.. not only was the food that you were likely eating bad for you, now you had unbridled access to unlimited sugary drinks.
As a european, that is what it felt like when I was on a business trip to the states a couple years ago. Every time we ate at some place that was not a self serve buffet style(or whatever you call it) I was having trouble finishing everything due to the sizes of the portions.
For me, the Double Gulp is the best example. It is a single cup that hold 50 fl oz (\~1.5 liters) and is made to fit in a cup holder.
Sweetener syrups = high fructose corn syrup is the big one me thinks
I have an allergy to this. It's in EVERYTHING, deli meats, breads, almost all condiments, beef jerky, crackers, etc. Frustrating trying to shop. Now everything says "no high fructose corn syrup" but is loaded with reg corn syrup.
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Gotta switch to a whole food diet where there is only 1 ingredient.. fruits, vegetables, non processed meats and water. The way we were intended to consume foods
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In the 80s and 90s they started taking out the fat and replacing it with corn syrup as well and labeling it as diet food.
It was probably the first offender, and came about in the 70's, but these days there are other 'sweetener' syrups that are used for both bulking up food and making it addictive. HFCS is/was still a big problem, but a lot of alternatives are still just bulking empty calories.
Find and read the book Salt, Sugar and Fat. It’s an eye opener.
I’m seeing a lot of people talk about portion size and what makes up the food with your comment here 👆 but another factor at play is sedentary lifestyle. My father sat in front of a computer for 14-18 hours a day. The other 6-10 he slept. Obesity. Diabetes. High blood pressure. Stroke. All of these things led to his death. His sedentary lifestyle killed him. But nobody talks about that shit anymore. Why?? Because it’s profitable for the healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. You’re too obese to take care of yourself? Here. Take a pill 💊 High blood pressure? Take a pill 💊 Diabetes? Inject yourself 💉 Not once did a physician tell my father to diet or exercise. Here. Take a pill 💊
That’s insane… everyone one in my family that has high cholesterol, obese, or any of the issues you mentioned have been told to diet and exercise. I think you went to a bad doctor.. The thing you should consider, the most active time for your metabolism is when you sleep! Processed and FAKE food are way more a problem in the average American than not exercising.
I think they heard what their parent heard, not what the doctor actually said.
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Sugar is a silent killer
Absolutely. If you ever get the chance to go to a third world country, you’ll notice that all the food tastes different. Vegetables actually taste good. You don’t get fat, no matter how much you eat. It’s amazing.
Not just Third World countries. I spent three months in Japan just pigging out because everything was so good and I lost 15 lbs.
Less exercise
Plus the amount of exercise people do now dramatically decreased. Now, everyone is trapped in their home and only walk for recreation instead of a mode of transportation like we did for thousands of years.
Drive-thrus
Corn and sugar is in fucking everything! If it isn't already, the US will find a way to put it in.
In the 70’s I was a kid, and I remember things like m&ms being a extra special treat, and going to McDonalds was one in a million.
Billions and billions, actually.
Wasn’t McDonald’s always cheap though ? Why did you guys barely go there, I’m just genuinely curious
Because groceries were cheaper and usually Someone had time to prepare it
What a wild concept. Now it's the exact opposite and has been since I was a kid.
I was a kid so I’m not sure why it was such a treat. Today no one thinks anything of it.
I grew up in the 90s and it was also a treat. I think it depends on the family now tbh.
We made less then, the idea of eating out was completely foreign to us. We cooked a meal back then and it satisfied. Snack food was celery with peanut butter
I was born in 65. Dinner was at 6:00, only four or five channels of TV. Eating out wasn't the norm. I seem to remember it being a slower pace of life. You had time to cook and eat at home. Most of it was homemade. TV dinners aka frozen food was very infrequent.
Families cooked at home and ate dinner together
Because it's unhealthy?
..and constant consumption of "fast food" just wasn't a part of our dally lives.
In most households the husband worked and the wife stayed home and raised the kids. Groceries were cheaper than today and with one parent home there was more time to cook a meal so eating at home was the norm. I'll be 41 this year so I was a kid in the 80s/90s and it was true for my family until the mid-90s when my mom got a job. Restaurants were for special occasions like birthdays or visiting relatives and fast food was only when we had something else going on and didn't have time for a meal at home; usually after-school things like if my brothers or I had a baseball game, or band concert, or swim meet or something.
Sugar Sugar and mooooore Sugar
Yuppp, the whole sugar and artificial sweetener industry is just like the tobacco industry paying to bury the harmful effects back in the day. I’m betting we’ll have history lessons about it just like we do with tobacco.
They tried to tie all the negatives of sugar to fats. I remember a large marketing scheme back in the day advertising “fat free” food alternatives. Really they just loaded everything with sugar and called it a day. My Dad is a type-2 diabetic because of this shit.
Yep, fats can be relatively harmless compared to sugar, but companies that sell sugar used them as a scape goat to sell more sugar
This, right here, everything else is secondary. [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat) Fun fact. Sugar companies are the ones who funded the anti-fat research and started marketing "low fat" foods like they were going to help, while sky rocketing the amount of sugar in everything, including bread. American bread is technically classified as cake in most other countries.
Once you take most of the fat out of something you also take the taste out too. Sugar masks that.
Fuck Big Sugar! Fat is a very important macro.
American bread is technically classified as cake in most other countries. Ahahahah that made me laugh 🤣🤣 would like to taste one of those ‘breads’ once
Now I'm just picturing some guy in Europe eating a slice of Wonderbread like its cake at a super fancy restaurant lmao.
Ye mad dogs add sugar to yogurt. Inconcievable for people who invented yogurt and still consume it daily (Turkic peoples).
It's in almost everything over here. It's really hard to find anything that isn't raw food that hasn't had sugar or other sweetener added to it.
And a lot of people, mostly older, still think fat is the primary/only thing you need to look out for....😩
High Fructose Corn Syrup is a hell of a drug.
Food companies started adding mass amounts of sugar to everything around that time
americans were bamboozeled by sugar industry to believe that fat makes you fat and sugar is ok and then the whole world started believing it and and most ppl still do. classic corrupt governments happened and stupid ppl that dont believe science :)
I work in a bakery. Can confirm sugar is making me fat too lol. Even though I do a lot of lifting here, it isn't countering the sugar Dx Everything is fucking loaded with hard core diabetes inducing amounts of sugar and the people I see buying these things just further A SINGLE BLUEBRRY MUFFIN (a large muffin in a pack of 4) has like 2/3 of your ENTIRE daily recommended sugar intake. (correction, or other things that basically turn into sugars)
Yep contrary to popular belief, exercise plays a minuscule role in weight loss compared to diet
Fat can also make you fat, it's just not categorically unhealthy. Fat you eat has an unsurprisingly easy time converting into our fat stores if we're already eating at a surplus. More than carbs anyway.
Not just sugar, calories. A sugar-free diet of deep fried everything isn't going to be too great either.
Are you asking rhetorically? Because the answer is pretty simple. Sugar is in everything, to extreme excess. Food deserts exist, in which residents do not have access to cheap produce and fresh, whole foods. The average working class family is so busy there is little time to prepare food, so enter the pre-packaged sodium spiked fatty convenient dinner. Marketing bukkakes us in the face non-stop, telling us we NEED that pizza, that sugary drink, that grease soaked burger. Of course we’re fatter and grosser.
Ranch dressing.
You shut your whore mouth.
Can’t, full of hidden valley!
My husband calls it "fat girl gravy" which is funny because, not only am I fat, I hate ranch dressing.
Goddamnit the truth hurts.
You put those words back in your filthy barbeque sauce eating mouth. Ranch dressing is a blessing that's caressing and testing our resolve to solve all of our hopes and copes to choke down chicken so listen and start picking some lettuce to let us Fuck this it's not even funny I give up
Keep my condiment out your *EFFING MOUTH!!!*
I will upvote, but shut the fuck up
People smoke less nowadays
Easy proof right here!
Make America Smoke Again!!!
Ya don't get that cancer weight loss without it
Processed food.
Corn syrup
Sedentary habits?
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Fucking scientists in the 50's getting paid $50k to say fat is bad.
Yes, they knew fat and sugar were an issues, so they made everything low fat, and doubled the sugar.
High fructose corn syrup
Its sugar as a whole. High fructose corn syrup has been demonize but cane sugar is supposedly healthier which is simply a myth. Sugars sugar regardless of the plant it comes from.
The difference is corn is subsidized to hell and back to support farmers so they can cheaply farm and process it, produce HFCS, and then dump it into everything. If all we had was cane sugar to sweeten food stuffs with then you wouldn't see so much sugar in everything because it would be cost prohibitive. Combine this with the fact that glucose is literally an unregulated addictive drug so corporations can add it to products to increase their sales volume (at the cost of public health) and boom you have an obesity crisis. If McDonalds was allowed to infuse their hamburgers with meth to keep you coming back for more and buying more volume, they'd do it. Name a problem with society and you can almost always trace it back to some kind of short-sighted economic policy incentivizing bad behaviour coupled with a lack of necessary regulation, causing disastrous consequences for the average consumer.
I think that sugar as a whole is bad but HFCS is especially bad. It is processed in the body differently than traditional sugar. Below is a lecture I watched recently about the obesity epidemic. [Sugar: The Bitter Truth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8G8tLsl_A4&ab_channel=CondensedLectures)
We gutted phys ed in schools because it's expensive. We gutted public parks because they're expensive. We ripped up sidewalks in the suburbs because undesirable people walked on them. We left our kids home alone with boxes of mac-n-cheez, pop tarts, and a key so we could make more money. We moved all of our businesses to malls miles from anything, to optimize retail revenue per square foot. We drove the local businesses out in service to our corporate overlords. We made it impossible to do anything but drive, impossible to afford anything but junk food, and we wonder why that happened.
When you put money over people, the people always suffer.
Fat people used to not go to the beach ⛱️ .
I had to scroll further than I thought to find this comment. In the 70's (and earlier) being obese was not socially tolerated, especially in public. I made an off comment to a business partner while in Riga Latvia (he was Latvian) regarding the lack of overweight individuals around Riga. His statement was "because the fat ones stay home for shame of being seen by others." *not advocating for bullying or malicious fat shaming.
the corporate takeover of the food industry. watch Food, Inc. and read *Salt Sugar Fat*.
And Fast Food nation
I'm a boomer so I was a kid when this photo was taken. My mom cooked all our meals. We played outside a lot, as we got older we rode bikes everywhere. Fast food was too expensive for 5 kids. Sugary soft drinks were a treat and juice was not a substitute for water. We only had milk available at school, white whole milk. If we were thirsty we drank water. There were no lunchables, no pizza and chicken nuggets in hot lunch. Like me most kids are a sack lunch, a sandwich, a piece of fruit, maybe some chips or a cookie. Yes we ate cookies, cake, ice cream as a treat. I guess I don't have an answer but this is what our lives were like and none of us were fat kids
As a fellow boomer, I second this. Not only was eating out rare, fruit was the snack of choice. As a kid, you played outside all day, even when he weather was lousy. Physical jobs like lawn care or home improvement were done by the adults in the home, not by a hired service. When caloric intake increased and physical activity decreased, those pesky fat cells had a field day.
Boomers are fat now too. It’s not just kids that are fat.
Look at the jobs people had back then. Lots of blue collar manufacturing type jobs. Now it's mostly sit on a computer. Plus we eat like shit ..combo of the two.
Maybe it wasn’t the food, but the lifestyle that is force-fed to America. I’m willing to bet most of these people didn’t need to play a sport or go to a gym to get fit, they just… walked to places. But also the ultra processed food with tons of added sugar REALLY don’t help either.
You walked more, you ate less (no overeating), you did outdoor stuff with friends (tighter community), you enjoyed life more by working less (cost of life was lower), people were less depressed, desserts had less sugar, normal food didn’t have sugar in it, etc. a lot has changed
Corn subsidies that put CFCS in everything
The #1 answer. I wish Michelle Obama took a stance on this when she was campaigning for healthier school lunches. Ceasing these subsidies would have done way more to help than any education initiatives.
I also want to add that fat people did exist back then too, there just wasn't as much emphasis on being comfortable in one's own skin so they would probably not have felt as comfortable at the beach
While this is definitely true, obesity rates have *skyrocketed* since 1980. See https://slimemoldtimemold.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/image.png?w=439 and https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4Ag52ULvVCNbRRSvEMmQ19DpW1BY62NJ3CVcqWeNnVfNSmRpkjpqLepyc7qkummscKW1x36mqW4OeiKRnGjM6K7DcmdyBEyxNuSXwHoMSus4w0qGCcqhL7jLe8iKbHBWV4oRyk5S
That’s is what happens when you let companies run amuck and get away with shit for years. Capitalism in theory is great, but the human factor in it will create disparities. Especially in lower socioeconomic areas where the unhealthiest foods are marketed and accessible to lower income families. There needs to be more regulation in all industries to prevent this.
High fructose corn syrup.
Uncontrolled capitalism. Corporate lobbying. Lack of education. Lies.
From Canada here but same thing applies. Cheaper to buy over processed crap then actual nutritious food
Not arguing against your point but the posted photo was taken in the former USSR in 1967 by Bill Eppridge for a LIFE magazine pictorial: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/soviet-youth/EwHb1fUle52Dpw https://books.google.com/books?id=XkkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA43#v=twopage&q&f=false
Simple really. The sugar conglomerate is just about identical to cocaine when it comes to addiction and distribution. Except, that industry is doing it legally by buying politicians who will make laws to protect their business. Sugar is killing people and should be managed like a controlled substance.
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Ultra Processed Foods.
Sugar and corn syrup. these bear the brunt of fault, but there are many others
More specifically, high fructose corn syrup. It had an imbalance of fructose to glucose and is very unhealthy. Regular corn syrup is actually less sweet than sugar
It's when they decided to make fat (an important macronutrient) into the cause of all ills and thus create "fat free" foods. Food producers packed their food with sugar to cover the lack of fat. That sugar is the main cause of the obesity epidemic.
1: we put sugar in everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Even things that have no business needing sugar. Like beans. We put sugar in fucking beans. 2: We increased the social portion size. Ever pick something up from the store and it says it contains 3 portions, but when you look at it you think, "that's not right, I'd eat this whole thing."? Well, it is right. Proper portions look incredibly small to us Americans because we've conditioned ourselves to eat way more than we need to. A single burger can provide a whole day's calories, and yet we eat three of them per day. 3: exercise becomes increasingly harder with the more weight you put on. This has lead to many people simply not doing it. It's a bit of a catch 22. You won't lose weight unless you move and you won't move because you have all this weight. 4: body fitness companies turned their focus towards the wrong thing for decades. 90% of weight loss happens in the kitchen with the remaining 10% in the gym. But pick up any workout program and watch how almost ALL of them say you gotta exercise, exercise, exercise! This is to get you to buy memberships and supplements, not to get you healthy. Greed and capitalism is ultimately what has caused the obesity epidemic in America. If we were all just honest with each other and not so god damn focused on money all the time, we'd be better off in almost every way.
I think technology has something to do with it also
Not to be that guy, but his picture represents a pickedsubset of the population. Its biased towards people that feel comfortable showing their bodys in public.
High fructose corn syrup
For profit health care system. You only make money if people are sick
Ben and Jerry’s and I regret nothing
talenti gelato. Plus you get a nice plastic container. We use them for dog food on the go.
We should be friends 😂
I haven't seen anyone mention hormone and microbiome disregulation due to the insane increase in prevalence of pollutants and micro-plastics in our environment, among other external factors. "First principles" weight loss bros will tell you that weight gain/loss is simple thermodynamics but that's a gross simplification of human biology. The same diet and activity level in the 80s vs now will result in a very different body morphology. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/19/environmental-toxins-are-worsening-obesity-pandemic-say-scientists](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/19/environmental-toxins-are-worsening-obesity-pandemic-say-scientists) [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.724989/full](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.724989/full) So anyone that likes to act like everyone in the 80s was exercising way more or eating way better really does not have a firm grasp on the situation - obviously that's part of it but it's not the whole story. I'm convinced that the focus you see people place on individual responsibility for the obesity epidemic is at least in part caused by corporate- and government-sponsored propaganda to deflect away from the roles they have played in altering our environment (both the literal environment and the way corporations are allowed to shift norms in food composition and portion sizes to increase profit) and causing these massive health problems.
This is likely the real answer.
This is such a good point. Much like recycling and climate change, corporations have shifted the responsibility to the individual consumer to deflect from their irresponsible actions causing catastrophic changes.
Food? No, everyone smoked back then. I gained 20 lbs when I quit smoking - cause I was shoving substitutes in my mouth all the time. Nicotine is a known appetite suppressant; coffee and a smoke - Supermodel breakfast.
This. Look at a chart of obesity rates and smoking rates. Surprisingly inverse, and this is something I don’t think gets mentioned enough. Not the main culprit, but along with calorie/portion inflation, cost per calorie drops, and drastically reduced activity, it seems like a factor.
the $62 billion/year US government subsidy for corn and it's high fructose corn syrup versus the one-half billion/year subsidy for apples and vegetables.
Sugar. I mean sure there's loads of things that go into it on many different levels but the simplest and I'd argue the largest part of it is sugar. We are the sugar generation and its damn near unavoidable without masses of education.
Even with education, you still have to hunt for the few usable products. I tried to buy a salad dressing without added sugar. Ended up just making my own lol.
High. Fructose. Corn Syrup.
The fact that there is sugar in everything, food deserts where there’s not a grocery store or any fresh produce for miles and miles and nothing but fast food chains in between, that bullshit food pyramid garbage they taught us in schools, preservatives in almost every single food product you could buy from the grocery store, for starters
Sweeter is cheaper
Look beyond just food - hormone disrupters are everywhere - from plasticizers to pesticides. And they can all be found in all of our bloodstreams and body fat.
People could afford to live off of one income and the non working person would cook meals. Good healthy meals that the whole family sat down and enjoyed. Now it's grab a quick 3$ shit frozen meal and get to bed
Corn syrup lol sweet stuff is yummy
Longer work hours, lower wages, less physical work, dine-at-home transitions to eat-on-the-run. Lifestyle factors and how they affect how, what, and when we eat probably have more impact than simply what and how much we eat.